Crime Fighting Digg Style
Web 2.0 Implossion on the Horizon?
The social media space better wake up and learn to play nice with business to risk implosion. I really think the whole space is in jeopardy. What we really need is new fresh thought leadership in this space.
Anyone? I am currently funding a number of ventures in the space and provided the initial leadership for the social media press release. I relay this so that you know that I have a vested interest in the ongoing health of the social media space. It was in a conversation today with one group that I had invested in that I started to go off on Digg. I know it is an old story but I need to register my frustration nonetheless.
What story am I referring to here? Remember in December when Lee Odden’s Top Rank Blog was banned from Digg? This is the one that has got me most chapped of late. Lee Odden is anything but a spammer. His blog provides valuable commentary and coverage on the SEO, SEM, SMO and PR space. He at no time encourages the use of spam to get business done online.
Here’s the thing; I like his blog but I can no longer Digg it. Why, because someone had him banned from Digg. I even went so far as to try to use a redirector service such as tinyurl.com or 301url.com to digg one of recent stories. Judging from the 70+ comments to Lee’s blog post it is apparent that I am not the only one frustrated with Digg’s stupidity.
Can you imagine if we were as arbitrary as Digg in our daily lives? Essentially they shut down Lee’s blog for future diggs because they (Digg) has a few rogue users. Imagine for a minute a world controlled by digg logic. Instead of looking for a Wal-Mart shoplifter and prosecuting the shoplifter we would have to shut down the Wal-Mart. Does that make sense to anyone? Or do I not understand because I am not a self-righteous socialist?
As one commenter pointed out, this is not a very 2.0 way of dealing with spam. BTW, who decides what is spam? That may be a discussion for another day….
Hey Dave, thanks for the comments.
Since making my initial inquiries to digg support and getting no response after the initial notice of being placed on a “no submissions allowed” list, I’ve moved on.
Our blog traffic has increased since then (2 months ago) from around 40,000 monthly page views to well over 60,000. Not being on digg has had little, if any effect on our growth because the rest of the web doesn’t share the pack-hate mentality for quality information about search marketing.
However, just because we don’t play on digg, doesn’t mean we don’t work with clients that have a message which resonates with the digg audience. That has not slowed down at all. Not with digg or any other social news/bookmarking service.
Social media is still a great alternative to standard search engine traffic if you work it correctly.